


Late

by ottermo



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 21:30:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9461159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: Mattie doesn't show for almost an hour, and Leo's worried.(Written for the '100 Ways to Say I Love You' collection, prompt #13 "Sorry I'm late")





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this just after series 1 aired, but I'm posting it now because me and ArwenAileon have set ourselves the challenge of filling all the prompts on the "100 Ways" list.... so this is my way of starting off: theft from my past self! :D 
> 
> Features quite a series-1 style Mattie because that's all I knew at the time.

Twenty minutes past the hour. Just twenty minutes - hardly anything, really, Leo reminds himself - to Mattie, lateness doesn't symbolise discovery or capture, doesn't flash back to Fred's no-show last time and what it had meant. She probably doesn't even realise she's late. 

Thirty minutes. Thirty-five. A rain shower comes and goes, and Leo silently vows to choose a rendezvous with some kind of shelter next time Mattie's timing is involved. 

At pushing forty, he can finally see headlights. She pulls over, parks by the side of the road, and comes to meet him. 

Her eyes are not entirely focused. "Sorry I'm late." 

Leo's ready to chide her, just a little, for making him worry - but it never leaves his tongue. Something's off. "Are you all right?" 

"Yeah," she says, curtly. "So where are we starting?" 

She's trying to look at the map in his hands, on which he's marked all the labs they need to check out. He folds it and holds it out of her reach, not satisfied with her answer. "Why don't I believe you?" 

Mattie huffs. "I don't know, because you're an incurable sceptic? I'm fine. Let me see." 

Reluctantly he lets her have the map. She traces lines between the marked spots with one finger. "So we're here? And the nearest one..." 

He points. "Not far." 

"Will we need to drive?" 

For some reason the question sounds much weightier than it is. He shakes his head, not taking his eyes off her. "No, we'll walk to this one. Better chance of slipping in without being seen." 

"Okay." 

She's relieved, he can tell, but can't work out why. Mattie loves driving, and will usually complain whenever he and Max decide against taking a car to whatever establishment they're having to break into. The getaway is always her favourite part. 

"Mattie, what happened?" he asks, glancing back at her car. "You might as well just tell me." 

She doesn't acknowledge his silent reference to the vehicle, and instead sets off at a brisk walk in the direction he'd pointed out. "It's nothing, can we just drop it?" 

He catches her up easily, and falls into step with her. "If it's nothing, then there's nothing for me to drop, is there." 

She isn't impressed with his philosophical angle, obviously. "Can we just get on with what we're doing here?" 

"No, we can't," he tells her. "Not with you distracted. I need you on it, if we're going to get these synths out, and clearly something is bothering you. So just save us both the time and tell me what it is." 

"Oh, because you'll magically be able to fix it," she bites back, and he counts it a small victory that she's at least admitting there _is_ something now. 

"No, but at least I'll know how much slack to cut you--" 

_Big mistake, Leo_ , he tells himself silently, realising a second too late. Her eyes flash with anger. 

"Oh, because you're what, my babysitter? Having to manage me? Are you doing me some kind of favour by letting me tag along, because here I was thinking you needed my help." She stops walking, stares him down. 

He resists the urge to snap back at her, and lets the pause take the wind out of her sails. "Finished?" 

She only glares at him. 

"You know that's not what I meant," he says calmly. "I shouldn't have said that. But you were almost an hour late, and then you turn up like _this_... forgive me, if I at least think it's worth asking about." 

She looks past him, over his shoulder, then suddenly down, and then away entirely, as if her eyes can't rest in one place. A hand goes up to swipe at them furiously, and Leo realises with faint horror that she's trying not to cry. 

"Mattie..." 

Instinct tells him to approach her; he's used to comfort coming from tight embraces, from touch. But something keeps him back, as if she's repelling him by the force of her earlier anger. 

"It's stupid," she says quietly. "Just give me a minute. It's nothing important." 

He nods. "Take your time." 

She wipes at her eyes again, finally glances at him. "It was just...there was a traffic jam." 

"Well, they can be very upsetting." 

The attempt at humour wins him half a smile. 

"Ha. I was sat there for ages, and finally when it started to move again, I saw... It was because there'd been an accident, and they'd put a barrier up. I don't know what I expected, but I moved so I could see it, and there was this..." She takes a breath, holds it, releases it. "She was about Sophie's age. Crossing the main road, probably on her way home from school, but she... I've never seen so much blood, it was horrific." 

He inches closer to her. "Was it the first time you've seen an accident like that?" 

She sniffs and nods. "Yeah. I know, it's pathetic, it's not like I was even involved. It just...God, it looked so much like Sophie. I knew it _wasn't_ her, but there was... It could have been, you know?" 

Leo nods. "It's not pathetic. I think this is probably a normal reaction." 

The word 'probably' seems to jolt her. "Oh, shit. See this is why you shouldn't have made me tell you." Her voice changes, takes on a mocking tone. "Wah wah, Mattie can't handle seeing a car accident, better cry about it to someone who fucking _died in a car_ , for maximum sensitivity points." 

He stares at her, surprised. "Wha— Just because one thing happened to me doesn't mean you have to be automatically...immune, or something. That's not how it works." 

Mattie sighs. "I know, just feels extra stupid when it's you." 

"Why?" 

"'Cause you're the king of angst," she says, bluntly. "And I have, in comparison, pretty much no problems." She interrupts his argument to this with, "Right, okay, I'm done. Let's go through what we're doing." 

She sets off again, and Leo, sensing the topic is closed for now, runs over the basics of what they'll be looking for in the lab's computers, and how best to shut it down. 

He only catches her tuning out once more, and the return of the haunted look in her eyes makes him brush against her arm with his. "Sophie's all right." 

She nods. "Yeah." 

"Are you?" 

"Yeah." 

He looks at her sideways as they close in on the back of the building. This time her answer is less of a lie, he thinks. 

"Good. We've got work to do." 

And her smile, too, is halfway convincing, so he buries the words she wouldn't let him say for another time. 

And there will be one. Whatever the the problems she thinks he's riddled with, it's thanks to her that he's here to see as many tomorrows as it takes.


End file.
